More Resources Photos

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Raymond Simon visited W.W. Ashurst Elementary School on Marine Corps Base Quantico in Va. today to recognize the school's success as a U.S. Department of Defense Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary School (DDESS) and to announce the donation of more than 12,000 free new books for distribution during the holiday season, through the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program.

"Having been at the U.S. Department of Education for a few years now, I can tell you that we're pretty good at donating books to children who need high-quality reading materials the most," Deputy Secretary Simon told the students at the elementary school. "Reading is the foundation of all learning-It opens doors of discovery and imagination to children, so that they may become future innovators, entrepreneurs ... lieutenant generals or even deputy secretaries of education."

This 2008 Holiday Book Donation is part of a multi-year effort of the U.S. Department of Education, the nonprofit First Book organization and other major U.S. publishing companies to promote literacy and supply books to children in need. Since June 2006, Book Donation Campaign partners and contributors have collaborated to distribute nearly 3 million children's books to schools, libraries and literacy organizations serving low-income youth across the country.

During the school visit, Deputy Secretary Simon and DDES Director Elaine Beraza also discussed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Department of Education and the Department of Defense that was recently signed to strengthen partnership activities serving the needs of children of military families. The MOU defines the basis on which the departments will work together to strengthen and expand school-based efforts to ease student transitions and help students of military families develop the academic skills that will last a lifetime, as well as coping skills during deployment periods. Approximately 1,118,000 school-aged students will benefit from partnership activities.

Following the school visit, Deputy Secretary Simon and Lt. General Pete Osman (ret.), President and CEO of the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, toured a local U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots warehouse facility charged with processing the Department's book donation. The goal of the Toys for Tots program is to deliver, a new toy at Christmas, and a message of hope to needy youngsters that will motivate them to grow into responsible, productive, patriotic citizens and community leaders. Since the late 1940s, the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program's Marines have distributed more than 370 million toys to more than 170 million needy children. In 2007, the U.S. Marine Corps distributed new toys, books and other gifts to more than 7.5 million disadvantaged children across the country during the holiday season.

For more information on The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, visit www.toysfortots.org.

For more information on the U.S. Department of Education and First Book's book donation campaign, visit: www.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/bookcampaign/index.html

###

Top

Back to December 2008